Picture it - back at university again after time off from studies, surrounded by many strangers and a new building whose 'ground floor' is actually 'level 2' (?!) and unsure of the path in front of you, both figuratively and literally!
This was not the case for us, however. Our team has built up such a rapport that we were able not only to identify each other in this sea of trainees, but also merge and mingle into different subject areas and meet new people with aplomb! We all had the 'in the same boat' feeling, too, which helped to ease the first day nerves.
At a personal level, the MFL trainee team are incredible. A mixture of native speakers and English polyglots, with 7 out of the 21 of us being male (which is almost unheard of in many PGCE MFL groups!) and a collective knowledge that must be close to 20 individual languages, we are definitely in a like-minded environment. Once again, I'm never ceased to be amazed at the astounding level of English competence and fluency that native speakers have over the English speakers' knowledge over their L2s and L3s (secondary and tertiary languages). It makes me wonder from what age people learn English abroad, the techniques used (e.g. immersion, situational, or the dreaded chalk-and-talk) and how much time is devoted to their studies... perhaps English being perhaps the lingua franca gives it higher credence in studies for foreign students, rather than French has for those in England?
The series of tasks performed this week have taken me back to my secondary language learning days. It has been great to meet our obviously experienced tutor (who seems to have a desire for accuracy in all aspects of the word) and to garner many hints and tips in this short amount of time. Nevertheless, our Wednesday's are devoted to 'Professional Development,' rather than subject knowledge, so it's always a pleasure to be reunited with the team whom I started with. It sort of feels like meeting back up with your family again after time spent apart (d'awwww...)
Styles of teaching vary greatly between tutors, from the engaging and bubbly to the more sedate. We've now completed our UWE induction and are aware of the assessments, timetables and expectations of us throughout the year. We've had the high points of getting to know new people and really share our strengths, but also the lows* of realising that some kids don't have it good and that we will be confronting issues that many of us have had the fortune to never experience (e.g. forms of abuse, its impacts and what our professional stances should be when we inevitably confront them).
For now, my tasks for the weekend are few and I'll be treasuring this little bit of free time! We have a school visit in the next couple of weeks where a colleague and I will be teaching Japanese to a group of Y5s (which, to me, is exciting and terrifying** beyond belief!) so there is content to prepare for that, and of course I'll be on the literature trail to improve my theoretical knowledge upon aspects we learned this week, such as professional identity (see this post for my ongoing thoughts on "What makes a great teacher") and how to effectively transmit new vocabulary to students of all ages.
...because I'm a little bit of a geek like that.
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I am happy to say that all three of my targets for this week I have hit. They were:
- To keep up with my academic reading
- To get back into my studying routine, and
- To keep in touch with the original cohort during time at UWE
Woo!
As for this weeks' other successes:
- Meeting new people (and remembering names) has been a breeze, which can only be a positive thing!
- I am happy with my work-life balance and I can't see myself being at risk of collapsing too early
- I can feel my professionalism and purpose re: why I want to teach, increasing daily which adds to my confidence no-end
My targets next week shall be:
- To keep up with note-taking and summarisation of lectures and seminars
- To start "thinking at M level" ... in other words, to be critical of opinions and have clear, valid and original reasoning of my own views
- To watch a few more episodes of "Educating Essex" and "Educating Yorkshire" (this isn't a cop-out... it's remarkably helpful to see how teachers deal with behavioural and classroom management in some of the most realistic contexts imaginable)
* I refer to this as a "low" only due to the content of the lecture. Nevertheless, it reinforced just why we need to be effective, caring and responsible teaching professionals - it really is all about the kids!
** Yes, I know they're not going to bite, but this will be my first teaching time to pupils!
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